Displaying items by tag: Roadmap

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched new Net Zero Accelerator initiatives under its 2050 Net Zero Global Industry Roadmap strategy in several countries. The new initiatives will identify barriers to decarbonisation and recommend key actions in Colombia, Egypt, India and Thailand. The association will set out national roadmaps with reduction levers, identify funding possibilities and enter into policy dialogues with national governments. Together, the four countries account for 10% of global cement production.

Chief executive officer Thomas Guillot said "Last year, our industry made a breakthrough net zero global commitment. This is the next logical step as we move our focus from a global roadmap to driving decisive local action." He continued "Global cooperation between governments and industry is crucial to ensuring net zero targets are met. Our Net Zero Accelerators will offer collaboration and support to a number of target countries to help them decarbonise and align with the global roadmap. I'm proud to launch the first phase of the Accelerator programme to assist these nations in embracing greener technologies and work towards a more sustainable future together. I now call on more partners around the world to join us and be part of this movement."

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has told the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) that federal policy and support is vital to accelerate the deployment of technologies that can decarbonise the local industrial sector. In its comments to the office, the PCA said that it shares the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 through its own Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality, which lays out a pathway to achieve this across the cement-concrete-construction value chain by 2050. However, it warned that without strong federal support the AMO’s timeline to reach carbon neutrality across industry was unrealistic due to the “significant technical, legal and economic challenges regarding technologies like carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), and others including hydrogen fuel and kiln electrification.”

“Federal policy must accelerate the significant technology, funding, and market innovation needed for rapid decarbonisation while preserving economic growth and international competitiveness,” said Sean O’Neill, senior vice president of government affairs at the PCA. “The adoption of CCUS is key to achieving deep decarbonisation in the cement industry.”

The PCA added that with the right federal and state policies, CCUS could become scalable within 10 years but infrastructure, policy, permitting and funding challenges remain. It suggested that tax incentive reforms and the use of Department of Energy loan programmes could accelerate early investment and adoption of CCUS.

The use of hydrogen fuels and kiln electrification was mentioned but these technologies are seen as being at least 15 – 20 years away. The association said that hydrogen remained very expensive and there was little current infrastructure for the transport and storage of hydrogen. More research and development is required to start evaluating the efficacy of kiln electrification.

Spain: Cementos Molins has committed to a 20% reduction in its CO₂ emissions between 2020 and 2030. The company has set out its strategy in its 2030 Sustainability Roadmap. The roadmap covers five areas: health and safety, energy and climate change, the circular economy, nature and the environment, and corporate social responsibility. Thus, Cementos Molins aims to achieve an accident-free workplace, to source 55% of its electricity consumption renewably, to increase its alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate to 40% and reduce its cement’s clinker factor to 68%, to halve particulate matter emissions and cut nitrous oxides (NO_x) and sulphur oxides (SO_x) emissions by 40% and 10% respectively and to have signed official agreements with all host communities and employ women in over 23% of management positions.

Chief executive officer Julio Rodríguez said “Sustainability is the cornerstone of our strategy here at Cementos Molins, and today we are delighted to announce the specific targets that we have set out in our 2030 Sustainability Roadmap. The targets and their corresponding action plans - the result of the hard work and dedication of the Cementos Molins team, together with our stakeholders – will help drive our company forward in actively tackling climate change.” He added “We are deeply committed to achieving zero emissions and building a better world for everyone.”

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) reports that cement consumption rose by 3.6% year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2021. Ed Sullivan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the PCA, made the announcement at the World of Concrete trade fair in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also forecast that cement consumption would be driven by non-residential and public works in 2023 and 2024 as mortgage rates increased. The country is also set to spend US$1tn on new and rehabilitated infrastructure projects and this would consume 46Mt of cement over a five-year program. Over a quarter of this amount would be used on roads, bridges and resiliency structures.

The PCA’s president and chief executive officer Mike Ireland and Senior Vice President of Sustainability Rick Bohan also spoke at the event to further promote the association’s Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg memorably summarised the outcome of the 2021 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) as “blah, blah, blah” but what did it mean for the cement and concrete industries?

Making sense of the diplomatic language the UN uses is a full time job due to its impenetrable jargon. This is partly why climate activists and others may have become jaded about the outcome of the world’s biggest climate change jamboree. The conference of the parties (COP) tried desperately to hang on to the 1.5°C warming aim set at the Paris event (COP21) in 2015. This is dependent though on countries sticking to their 2030 targets and becoming net-zero by 2050 or earlier. Unfortunately, both China and India, two of the world’s current top three CO₂ emitters, have announced net-zero dates of after 2050. Those two countries also drew fire in the western press for weakening the language used in the COP’s outcome document about the ‘phasing out’ or ‘phasing down’ of coal use. However, simply getting coal written on the final agreement has been viewed as a result. Other positive outcomes from the event included commitments for countries to review their 2030 targets in 2022, progress towards coordinating carbon trading markets around the world and work on adaptation finance from developed countries to developing ones.

The headline results from COP26 carry mixed implications for the building materials sector. The Paris agreement (COP21) has already achieved an effect in the run-up to COP26 by prompting the cement and concrete industries to release a roadmap from the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) in October 2021. Now it’s down to whether individual governments actually follow the targets and how they enforce it if they do. If they don’t, then the response from building material producers is likely to be mixed at best.

What may have a more tangible effect is the work on carbon markets at COP26. Countries were finally able to complete technical negotiations on the ‘Paris Agreement Rulebook,’ notably including work on Article 6, the section that helps to govern international carbon markets and allows for a global carbon offsetting mechanism. The European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has shown over the last year how a high carbon price may be able to stimulate companies to invest in mitigation measures such as upping alternative fuels substitution rates and developing carbon capture and storage/utilisation projects. Critics would argue that it may simply be offshoring cement production and closing local plants unnecessarily. Making a more global carbon trading scheme work amplifies both these gains and risks. Either way though, having an international framework to build upon is a major development. Finally, work on adaptation finance could have an effect for cement producers if the money actually makes it to its destination. The big example of this announced at COP26 was a US$8.5bn fund to help South Africa reduce its use of coal. It is mainly targeted at power generation but local cement producers, as a major secondary user of coal, are likely to be affected too.

Alongside the big announcements from COP26 lots of countries and companies, including ones in the cement sector, announced many sustainability plans. One of these included the launch of the Industrial Deep Decarbonisation Initiative (IDDI) during COP26 by the governments of the UK, India, Germany, Canada and the UAE. This scheme intends to create new markets for low carbon concrete and steel to help decarbonise heavy industry. To do this it will disclose the embodied carbon of major public construction projects by 2025, aim to reach net zero in major public construction steel and concrete by 2050, and work on an emissions reduction target for 2030 which will be announced in 2022. Other goals include setting up reporting standards, product standards, procurement guidelines and a free or low-cost certification service by 2023.

All of this suggests that the pressure remains on for the cement and concrete sector to decarbonise, provided that the governments stick to their targets and pledges, and back it up with action. If they do, then the industry will remind legislators of the necessity of essential infrastructure and then continue to ask for financial aid to support the development and uptake of low carbon cements, carbon capture and whatever else. Further adoption of carbon markets around the world and global rules on carbon leakage could help to accelerate this process, as could adaptation finance and global standards for low carbon concrete. The next year will be critical to see if the 1.5°C target survives and the next decade will be crucial to see if global gross cement-related CO₂ emissions will actually peak. If they do then it will be a case of ‘hip hip hurrah’ rather than ‘blah blah blah’.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has published a roadmap to carbon neutrality for the cement and concrete sectors by 2050. It says that the strategy document demonstrates how the US cement and concrete industry, along with its entire value chain, can address climate change, decrease greenhouse gases and eliminate barriers that are restricting environmental progress. It added that the document is a ‘major step’ towards engaging US policymakers, industry partners and non-government organisations.

“Cement and concrete have been pivotal in building resilient, durable and sustainable communities that enable people to live safe, productive and healthy lives via structures that withstand natural and man-made disasters,” said PCA President and chief executive officer, Michael Ireland. “The PCA is uniquely positioned to lead the industry-wide ambition to achieving carbon neutrality and enable our member companies and industry partners to continue building a better future.”

The PCA’s roadmap outlines a number of reduction strategies across the various phases of the built environment including production at cement plants, construction including designing and building and everyday infrastructure in use. It also recognises five main areas of opportunity: clinker; cement; concrete; construction; and carbonation (using concrete as a carbon sink).

Notably goals include a reduction of coal and petcoke use at cement plants to 10% in 2050 from 60% at present, a clinker ratio of 75% in 2050 from 90% at present and a reduction of the CO₂ intensity of concrete of 60% by 2050. The roadmap also noted the necessity of carbon capture and storage/utilisation (CCUS) for reducing CO₂ emissions from cement production. However is pointed out that there are no commercial-scale CCUS installations at any cement plant within the US, location and permitting challenges remained and that infrastructure investment would be required to deal with the captured CO2.

World: Forty cement and concrete producers, representing 80% of concrete production outside of China in 2020, have together affirmed their commitment to the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA)’s Roadmap to Net Zero concrete decarbonisation strategy. The roadmap’s seven-point plan consists of increased cement plant efficiency, which should eliminate 22% of emissions, increased concrete production efficiency (11%), adjustments to cement and binders (9%), decarbonisation of raw materials (11%), carbon capture and storage (CCS) (36%), a transition to renewable energy (5%) and the natural recarbonation of concrete (6%).

Besides full decarbonisation by 2050, the strategy provides for a 25% reduction in the global concrete sector’s CO₂ emissions by 2030 and the elimination of 4.9Bnt of CO₂ emissions by 2030 alone. The GCCA called the new commitment a ‘significant acceleration’ of cement and concrete producers’ on-going decarbonisation efforts, and said that it represented ‘the biggest global commitment by any industry’ to carbon neutrality. Acknowledging the burden on cement producers, the GCCA called on downstream companies and governments to support the industry’s transition.

GCCA member China National Building Material (CNBM) CEO Cao Jianglin said “This is a landmark for industry co-operation in decarbonisation. As part of a global industry, it will need collaboration across our sector to achieve it. As one of the leading cement and concrete producers in China, we will play our part in decarbonising the industry.”

South Korea: Sampyo Group has announced a planned investment of US$171m before 2030 to reduce Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 35% over the period from an August 2021 baseline. The parent company of Sampyo Cement plans to achieve this in the first phase by increased its use of alternative fuels, improving energy efficiency, introducing low-carbon raw materials such as fly ash and developing sustainable products. The company is targeting net zero CO₂ production by 2050.

Canada: The Cement Association of Canada (CAC) and the government have published a joint statement detailing their plant to develop a roadmap to net-zero carbon concrete. When launched in December 2021, the roadmap will provide Canadian cement producers with the policies, tools and technologies to contribute to the achievement of net-zero concrete by 2050. The plans will cover areas including: supporting the low-emissions building materials supply chain, building an innovative opportunities framework and engaging stakeholders. According to the statement, the roadmap will offer total potential CO₂ reduction of 15Mt by 2030, and 4.0Mt/yr thereafter.

The partnership will establish a CAC-led Industry-Government Working Group in collaboration with the National Research Council the Standards Council of Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Among its tasks will be the publication of updated environmental product declarations.

Australia: Adbri says it wants to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as part of its commitment to a low carbon future. The board and management team are assessing medium and long term emissions reduction options and are intend to release a roadmap by the 2022 annual general meeting. Adbri set its current emissions reduction target in 2019, to deliver a 7% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2024 against 2019 baselines. In 2020 it achieved 2.3% reduction.

“We recognise that process emissions from the production of cement and lime are not easy to abate. Adbri is committed to maintaining its sector leadership position in sustainability by continuing to increase its use of renewable energy, alternative fuels and supplementary cementitious materials. Developments in technology and partnership with industry, government and research institutions will be critical as we deepen our understanding of long term emission reduction options. This will form part of our roadmap toward net zero by 2050,” said Adbri’s chief executive officer Nick Miller.